Means for regulating the output of a generator



1935. c. w. TERRY 2,000,674

us'lms FOR nssuurmc THE OUTPUT or A GENERATOR Filed July 27, 19:54

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amass FOR IBGULATING THE OUTPUT OI A GENERATOR MW. Terry,

ea-ac, -Ileetric8teI'ageBatter-y hlleh.,amignarto'.lhe' Company Philadelm lm, a corporationo! New Jersey my :1. 1934, Serial No. 1:738

The invention relatesto systems in which a generator,whichmaybe drivenatvariable speed,

is employed to supp y current to translation de- .vicesand to a 5 especiallyadapted'ioruseinconnection'with the starting and 'lighting on' automobiles space and weight limitation, the capacity'of the .10 gcneratorisusuallywithlittleiiany,

surplus above the actual requirements, and, in order to utilize the generator capacity to the fullest possible extent, it should be so controlled that its maximum output is always delivered to the translation devices and tothe storage battery except when the batteryksonearly fully charged that it is w overcharge, to reduce the output 0! the generator to avoid charging the battery atthese excessive To accomplish this result, it is desirable toprovide two somewhat diilerent'metbods iorconrenttoavoideneessivechargeasecond or supplementary method of control is introduced, desnedtopreventtbechargingcurrentintothe hatteryiiomacertainpredetermined control, however, asshouldrbe so designed tbatpwhen additional ,translatingdevicesareconneetedtheoutputoi thegeneratorwillbeincreased toprovideiorthlaaddedloadthusmaintaining the current at the same value.

50 Inorder:toaccomplishtheoeresultsJhaveprovidedthe novelmeans iorvgenerator control il- Inthedrawlng iisagmeratonhereshownas oithethirdbrushtypehavingmainll storage'battery. The invention is vin order to avoid injurious lustratedtlca'lly hi the a man. (Cl. u-s'm andil andanauxiliaryorthirdbrushfl and havingafleldwindinglconnectedbetweenthethird brush andthemainbrush II. Inserieswith fleld'winding I is shown a resistor U. The generator i isconnectedacrossthecircuiti -lto 5 which are also connected the storage battery 8 by way of conductors 1 and 8 and the translation devim 9, the latter being adapted for connection to the circuit 2 by means of the switch Ila, Interposed in the conductor 2, between the. generator l0= l and the battery and translating devices, is shown the cut-out switch 33, which may be of any well known design adapted toconnect the generator 'to the battery when the generator volt- 1 age reaches the desired valueand to disconnect 16" it when its voltage drops below that 01' the batfery. Y when the resistor i is short-circulted', the characteristic of the generator I is. similar to the usual third brush machine on an automobile, 20:

being wntrolled by its field winding and arma-, ture reaction sothatitsmaximum outputissubstantially constant above a certain speed and islimitedtotheratedcapacityofthemachine. The value of the resistor 5 is such that, when 253'- it is in circuit with the field winding], it will so reduce the fleld excitation that the outputof thegeneratorwillbelimitedtoa'value lesthan the maximum current to which it is desired to limit the charging rate 'into the battery. lnthedrawingtheresistor'iistor be short-circuited by the contact II of the' v'ibrat 7 8 mlfl ltor ii when that contact is closed in tothepullotthespring-IO. Theregulater I] comprisesamagneticcore "surrounded by a coil I! connected in series between the battery 0 and the conductor 2 by meansot eon- ,Anarmatureilisarrangedtobe, attractedbytheeore llagainstthepullotthe" and to make contact with the contact it when the pull of the spring I. predominates. Whenthecontact lIisclosed,acircuitisestab-' lished through conductors l1 and II, short-cir cuiting the resistor I. The vibrating ll operates inthewell-knownmannertomaintainthe current inthe battery circuit substantially constant, opening the contact at I! when ever .the'currentexceeds this value, thus reducing the held excitation of the generator i and closing the contactor l5 whenever the battery current ialls below this predetermined value, restoring the generator field excitation to its maximum value. So long as the generator is controlled bythe vibrating regulator ii, the chargingcurrent intothebatterywillbemaintained at the low rate desired when the battery is neariyiuilycharged. I! translating devices are connected to the circuit by closing the switch II. the output of the generator will be increased by the additional load due to these translating devices, 101', ii the generator output should not be increased by-this amount, the current into the batterywould tall oil and the 'reguiator II would act to increase the generator field excitation until theoutput oi the generator-is restored to a value equal to the load of the translating devices and the dfircd low rate charging current into the battery. Ii, however, this combined load should exceed the, maximum capacity of the generator, its regulation due t9 the well-known characteristics of the third brush machine will prevent the output from equaling the sum of the load due to the translation devices and the predetermined battery charging 7 current, and the latter will .iall'to a lower value.

I! is a voltage responsive relay arranged-to cause thesr'egulator H to be inoperative until the voltage-across the circuit 1-! has reached a certain predetermined value corresponding to that oi the battery when approaching the fully charged condition; This relay is comprises a magnetic core 20 surrounded by a voltage coil 2| connected across the circuit 2-! by means ofv conductors 22 and 28. It has an armature I normally held against the contact 25 by means of the spring 26. The contact 1! is in a circuit comprising conductors 23 and TI which shortcircuits the resistor i when the contact at ll is closed. Under these conditions, the regulator H is inoperative and the generator is controlled to deliver its maximum rated output.

It will be understood that modifications may be made in the apparatus described above and shown in the accompanying drawing without departing from the spirit of the invention. For exampleythe generator I may be of the wellknown shunt-wound type with its field controlled to give the desired regulation by means or a separate field regulator ot one of the well-known types. Also, the voltage responsive relay I! may be designed'to compensate for variations in temperature by any of the-well known means.

Idonotintendtobelimitedsaveasthescope of the prior art and of the attached claims may require.-

I claim:-

1. in combination; a generator provided with iidd regulation adapted to limit its maximum:

output to a predetermined value, a storage battery, means for connecting the battery to'the generator, translating devices adapted to be connected to and disconnected from the battery and the generator, means responsive to current in the battery circuit'but independent of current vpassingirom thegenerator to the translating dsviees, s'aid last-mentl'u'ied meals adapted to limitthe generator output to a value lower than saidmaximum,andmeansresponsivetobattery voltage and adapted to cause the battery current meanstoheinoperativeimtilthebattery voltage rises to a predetermined value.

2. In combination, a generator; means ior lim- "iting the output of said generator to a predetermined value, a storage battery, means for connecting the battery-to the generator? translating'devices adapted to be connected to anddisconnected from the battery and the generator, 'inea'ns ve to current in the battery circuit butindependent ironi the generator to the translating devices. saidlast-mentionedmeansadaptedtolimitthe generals!outputtoavalmlowerthansaidmaximum, dmeans vetobatteryvoltsge sndada tocausethebatterycurrentrespmki sive means to be haoperattve until the batteryyoltsgerisestoapreterminedvaluc.

3. An electric circuit, comprising in combine-- tion. a generator of the third brush type hav ingthecharacteristiethatiismaximum output is subnantially constant, a resistor, a storage battery, translating devices. connections between-said storage battery and said translating devices and saidgenerator, a switch controlling theconnectimbetweensaidstoragebattery and said translating devices and said generator, a switch controlling the connection between: said devices and said storage bat-' tery, a vibrating relay having a coil responsive to the current flowing through said battery and independent oi the current flowing through said devices and having an armature con-- trolling connections including said third brush and said resistor so that the maximum. output at said generator is reduced when mid connections are open, and a second relay having a voltage coil responsive to the voltage of said generator andhaving an armature ccmtroilim a con-- -nectimparalleling saidresistorandinseries with saidthird brush.

w.--rnmnv. 

